all across the map, the candidates are still campaigning. this is tonight's obama rally. the final event of the final campaign of his political career. he's closing things out in a place where on a presidential level it all began with the iowa caucuses. we'll bring you his comments live. there's a mitt romney event as well tonight in manchester, new hampshire, governor romney, kid rock, we'll bring you those events. mr. romney is not done yet. he has two appearances schedule for tomorrow. one in ohio, one in pennsylvania. in fact, the campaigns have been everywhere that matters lately, every state that could swing

tomorrow, president in i had high, wisconsin, the governor in florida, virginia, earlier in new hampshire. in the end it is down to the candidate and often to the candidate's last vocal chord. >> fired up. ready to go. fired up, ready to go. >> you know, if anyone wants to know where the energy is, anyone following american politics wants to know where the energy is, look right here in this room. >> each candidate trying to get even one more person to vote tomorrow. millions of people have already voted. early voting has been a blessing and a curse. in ohio and florida, limited hours made for long lines over the weekend. take a look at that. that could make post election legal battles if either state is pivotal. we'll talk to our legal analyst jeffrey toobin about that.

that is a very real possibility. with me here tonight john king, also political analyst david gergen, gloria borger. ari fleischer, an occasional unpaid political adviser for the romney campaign. paul begala senior adviser for president obama's senior pac. i want you to listen to a clip and get your response. the first one from 2009 and one from just last thursday. take a look. >> a year from now, i think people are going to see we're starting to make some progress, there's going to be some pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years, there's going to be a one-term proposition. >> now, we knew from the beginning that our work would take more than one year or even one term, because let's face it, the middle class was getting hammered long before the financial crisis hit. >> wow, he looks older.

clearly, difference in message there. >> big time. in his defense, the best economist and business people didn't know how deep the hole was when he came in. >> speaking of big time, were you quoting george bush? >> it's a texas thing. >> go ahead. >> he came in, the hole was far deeper than he or anyone knew. i don't think anyone knew how deep the hole would be. short answer, every time i looked at the economy, obama couldn't win, every time i look at the republicans i think he can't lose. thank god the republicans have fielded the weakest candidate of months earn memory to go up against this president. >> you really think he's the weakest candidate? >> terrible. >> weaker than john mccain? >> he was crippled by bush. >> excuses, excuses, excuses. here's what happened. >> it's not excuses.

>> in 2009, after the president passed the stimulus, he projected growth this year to be 4.3%. in 2010 he projected growth to be 4.2%. one year ago, he projected growth 3.2%. two months ago, he projected growth to be above 2%. it's 1.8% for the year. >> yet he's winning. >> paul, you said nobody saw it coming. it did come and got worse under president obama. >> before we go down this road, we can be on this road all night long, and probably will be tomorrow. just in terms of the president's path to 270, can you take us down that path? >> i can. but i have to leave all this partisan -- >> please do. >> they're going to start voting in new hampshire in a couple hours. the main event is tomorrow as we go across the map. i'm walking over to the map. it's making me nervous. it's got a file up there that i'm going to have to close and make it go away, i can handle that with the map. one thing we know, here's the map from 2008. this is election night. we're not going to have this.

we're going to have a much closer, much more competitive election. the question is who can get to 270. you have to say this. you have to say this as the voting begins. the president has an easier path, and the president, if you're a betting person, the money would be safer on the president because of his lead in the public polls and the battleground states. election eve. it takes 270 to win. we have the president at 237. those are the dark blue states. governor romney at 270, same thing. the question is, who can get to 270 easiest? the president is ending in three midwestern states, wisconsin, ohio and iowa. if he wins those three, nothing else changes, game over. that's why he's there. follow the candidates, you think you know what they need, that's for the president. let's take this one away for now. i'm going to leave this one here for now. the republicans would say, no, we're going to get wisconsin tomorrow, we can get iowa with a big surge of agricultural votes. for the sake of argument, let me

leave this here for now. in both campaigns, you don't get much of an argument. republicans will push back. we'll see what happens on election day tomorrow. most pros will tell you, nevada likely to go the president's way. if i give him nevada, iowa and wisconsin, 259/206. what does governor romney have to do? he must win the state of florida. tonight the democrats say we think we're still in play. again, if you give them truth serum, which ones are they likely to lose, they put florida high on the list. the obama operation says watch us turn out the vote tomorrow. let's assume it stays with its normal republican dna, we'll keep it there. virginia is a must win for governor romney. this is another state where the obama campaign says we are wired on the ground. we can do it. the key will be the northern vir suburbs. for the sake of argument, i know democrats are getting mad at me, i'm going to give it to governor romney. if we do that, he gets florida,

virginia, this could shall a decisive state. for the sake of argument, the obama campaign says we have this state. watch what happens tomorrow, especially in evangelical areas. i'm going to this hypothetical to show you how close this would be give it to the romney campaign. that would put us at 259-257. it would leave us only ohio and new hampshire. you only get 4 in new hampshire, 18 in ohio. under any scenario, i could switch a few of these in plausible ways. under any scenario, this becomes the key, the 18 electoral votes here. if romney wins it, he's the next president of the united states. if the president can hold ohio, he's the next president of the united states. of the states i assigned, which are likely to be maybe a different way? the obama campaign says they think they'll win colorado. the obama campaign thinks they'll win one of these two. they think they can win both. let's be realistic here. this is actually four -- and it's a true tossup. we'll watch this one play. it won't be decisive unless you have other changes out here. for now, would you have to say, advantage president, if you look at the public polling in iowa,

wisconsin and ohio, the president is narrowly ahead. in these other states, governor romney may be up one or tie. on paper, advantage to the president. the republicans say they'll prove this wrong tomorrow. guess what, we're about to find out. >> i'm not going to take it personally, john doesn't want to be back here with us. in terms of -- let's keep john over there, if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. what do you not know that you would like to know? what information do you -- obviously, who's going to win, but just -- what it boils down to, senior turnout, are there -- >> younger voters, i want to know younger voters, if they turn out in large numbers, that's good for the president. you want to know white voters, because the more minorities that turn out, the better that is for president. the higher the white vote, the better that is for mitt romney. those are really two important things. of course, latinos, so important in that minority group. yes. >> i think anderson, sometimes, when we get through all these individual states, we lose sight of the basic dynamics of a race

like this. the last five elections there are 19 states that have gone democratic, in five straight elections. they amount to 243 electoral votes. there are 22 states that have gone republican, but they're only 180 electoral votes. the democrats start out with a significant advantage these days. they only need to pick off a hand ffl states. that's what this is all about. or can romney bak break into the blue wall that the democrats have. that's what this election is all about. >> you mentioned the youth vote. i think that's really critical. you look at obama, 66-31 with the youth vote in 2008. the youth vote was 18% of the electorate. he's dropped, he's 57-38 with young people. if the youth vote shrinks from 18% to 16%, obama's toast. young people who have not been talked about, their issues haven't been talked about, actually in some ways hold the future. >> john, you've spent a lot of

time on college campuses, what are you seeing out there? >> you have smart people at the table. they'll all agree on this. they'll disagree about a lot but agree on this. demographics of the electorate, if the young vote is level in 2008, if latino's vote grows a little bit or at least stays level, the president is likely to win the election. that is the big debate. that's why people argue over the polls. this is 2008, these are the house races in 2008. look at all the blue, here's the presidential race in 2008. republicans win a lot of counties for the president. this is a center right country. we have 29 republican governors, remember that. let's look at the house races in 2008. is it 2008 or 2010? look how much different that is. watch closely. see the red? that's 2010. that's 2008. it's a presidential year, so democrats and historians are saying, of course, it's not a 2010. that's a midterm. turnout will be higher. i talked to a lot of people

today who say in terms of the energy on the ground, it's kind of both. the democrats are fired up, they have a good turnout operation. the question is, slight changes in the demographics of the electorate. if there's slightly less african-american votes, slightly less latino vote. slightly down youth vote and the republicans come to play, then some of these states could tip. >> ari has a quick question for you, john. >> a lot of pundits and a lot of normal people are going to be looking at the exit polls. can you walk people through what the exit polls got wrong in 2004 and scott walker recall in 2012 and what people should be on the lookout for? >> i'm not going to go into the specifics of each different election. but i would tell you, be careful of exit polls, be careful of any polls, polls are a guide. exit polls have people, they walk out of the polling place, someone says would you like to answer questions? rauh get that group's survey. over time, by the end of the day, you have three waves, thousands of surveys. by that time you have pretty reliable data.

in a very close election, an exit poll is a good benchmark, you shouldn't use it to say x is it going to win, y is going to lose. use it to say what are the issues people most care about. again, who's voting? what are the demographics of the electorate? the obama campaign is saying don't believe the early exit polls they won't take into account early voters. we try to adjust on this, do national polls, and factor that in. it's a very good science. it's not an exact license. we have to take a quick break. we'll have more with our panelists. we're waiting for live events with president obama and michelle obama expected to talk. mitt romney there, you see a live shot of the president obama event in des moines, iowa. a lot more ahead. we'll bring it to you as it happens. our election eve reporting continues in a moment.

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lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! president obama's expected on the stage shortly in des moines, iowa. the state really a book end to his career in the presidential campaign. jessica yellin is there for us tonight. big crowd behind you in iowa. the president is wrapping up his campaign. even though there are only six electoral votes in the state, but for him, it's where he battled it out against hillary clinton. >> it is, anderson. his stop here, the fact that he's ending his campaign here is meaningful strategically and symbolically. this is a battleground state, electoral votes, as you say.

those votes could make the difference between having a second term and becoming a one-term president. this is a state in which he has an extensive ground operation and in which they have mobilized the early vote, almost like no other. they have an extreme advantage with the early vote here, and they almost say it's beyond governor romney's reach tomorrow, he would have to break history in order to win it. this is the spin from the obama campaign. again, as you point out, there's real history here, you'll recall after that historic caucus in the year 2008, it's where president obama first said, they said this day would never come. that's when he started talking about ending politics as we know it in washington, et cetera. it's coming back to where it all began. he's landed. air force one is here. the first lady's plane has also landed at the airport. the president is greeting her at the airport, they'll arrive here together. there will be a performance from bruce springsteen and a speech here with a lot of the old campaign gang rejoining the team

for a final good-bye, anderson. >> what's he doing tomorrow? we know mitt romney is having campaign events tomorrow. is the president not doing that? and why? >> you know, traditionally, first of all, he has not campaigned on election day, it's not his ritual. and he's not going to break ritual. what he'll do tomorrow is play basketball. they have this history, there was one campaign, one election day they did not play basketball. that was that primary against hillary clinton in new hampshire that he lost. and so they always say, they now play basketball every single election day, and that's their rule. >> is that for real? are they really that superstitious? >> oh, yeah. oh, yeah. they all grow beards around the election. all his campaign aides are growing beards. they're donning their 2008 fleeces. some of them are wearing 2008 baseball caps. we're having this rally in front of their 2008 headquarters. yes, they're superstitious. >> wow, that's interesting. >> and also, they would not --

now, because governor romney has scheduled events tomorrow, to now add some events reactively would be far too defensive for team obama. what they do, they are no drama obama, they have a plan, they have a strategy. it's locked in, loaded and ready to go. now they are just letting their ground game function, because they have total faith in their program. and it is rolling out now. >> all right. >> win or lose, they have faith. >> jessica yellin, appreciate that. we're also waiting for mitt romney to speak tonight in new hampshire. we want to bring back our panel. john king, gloria borger, ari fleischer, paul begala. do campaigns often go with magical thinking like this? >> absolutely. yes. >> romney has a magical budget so -- it's like the magic is all in there. >> days on end wearing black gloves, don't know why, can't remember. >> james carville is a man of

mystery. >> i went the whole last couple weeks of a campaign one time and didn't change my underwear. i washed it at night. >> didn't bill clinton famously campaign up until the end? >> 24 hours, he went around the clock. >> probably he's going to do it again tonight, why not? >> until the last dog dies. >> i think one of the things that's happening here. there's some stuff you can't poll, we talked a lot about the polls and the numbers. there is a level of intensity on both sides that i think when it's this close, we're going to be surprised tomorrow. there are people who are in the tea party who have convinced themselves that this president is a threat to everything they believe in. they're going to strain every effort to make sure he doesn't get defeated tomorrow. you have women who feel like roe versus wade is on the chopping block. the naacp are going to put a million extra black people in the polling areas. you have a level of intensity

that does not show up in the polling data. we're going to be surprised tomorrow. >> that's one of the things going back to ohio and -- take the campaigns out of it, you're talking to a lot of the third party groups that have been out there. they say it's closer than the obama campaign says, maybe not as close as the romney campaign says. but the frustrating thing for a lot of people hearing pronouncements coming out of ohio, they don't get people by party. the way that you early vote in ohio is by the primary you last voted in, if a lot of people turn out in 2010 or during a presidential primary, they would be labelled as republican and not necessarily so. same for the democrats. there are lots of unknowns tomorrow, which kind of makes it a little more exciting. >> that's one of the unknowns? >> here's another data point people should keep an eye on. senior citizens. they haven't gotten a lot of attention in this race. they went for george bush in 2004 by five points, they went for john mccain over barack obama by eight points. they're breaking double digits for mitt romney. and they vote in higher proportion in numbers. we haven't gotten a lot of folks

in this race. the seniors is a shifting group. the democrats have gained in the last several years by minority. seniors is a counterbalance to that. >> when we were coming up, the seniors came of age during roosevelt. if you were 75 today, you were 45 when you voted for ronald reagan. you're much more likely to be a republican if you're a senior today. >> can i say something about the way we're being spun these days. my head is exploding from both of these campaigns telling us they have a better get out the vote effort. they've gotten more people to the polls. don't pay attention to the early exits. we don't really know in the end because these races are so close, whether people have voted already who are likely voters or who are unlikely voters. whether you're going to cannibalize, is the word they use, the people who would normally turn out to vote because you got them to early vote.

what we don't know is what we don't know, which is the enthusiasm you can't measure. >> thankfully there's a lot we don't know. we're not in charge, we leave it to the voters. i want to go back to van's point. there is intensity on both sides. there's a noticeable difference in 2008. i think that the republicans are more energized in 2008, democrats are less energized. but on both sides, i have to tell you, there's a sense about this election when it's over, there won't be so much a celebration as there was in 2008, there's going to be more of a sense of relief about what we didn't get. what we prevented from happening, rather than a real celebration. >> or relieved that it's over. >> i don't think there's going to be the celebration -- >> well, because it wasn't an uplifting campaign. >> not if you're on a local tv station in a battleground state, then your depression starts. it is different, when you visit these counties and you visit the headquarters, you talk to people, it's very different. that's not to say, the obama

campaign doesn't have a very impressive turnout operation. they do, and they have this down to a science. remember, they did not have a primary challenge. >> that's right. >> if he wins a very close election tomorrow, it could be because of a decision he made very early on, the auto bailout. because he did not have a primary challenge. unless it challenged in the last 72 hours, a bit of a bump from sandy. >> we have to take a quick break. we have a lot more ahead including the wild card in all of this, that superstorm sandy. hardest hit areas are scrambling to make it easier for the hardest hit to vote tomorrow. we'll tell you about that next. how they're doing that. also waiting for the president and first lady to take the stage in des moines iowa. also, governor romney. we'll bring it to you live when it happens.

you're looking at a live shot of the rally in des moines where president obama just moments from now will wrap up the last campaign of his political career. he'll spend election day tomorrow in chicago, playing basketball of other things as we just learned.

michelle obama is with him in des moines, so is bruce springsteen. it is the third state they visited today. we're waiting for president obama to take the stage any moment. we'll bring that to you live. as well as governor romney when he takes the stage at his rally tonight. voter turnout could be affected by the states hit hardest by the storm sandy. one week ago tonight, sandy knocked out power in the northeast. about a million people in the region are still waiting for power. thousands have been displaced from their homes. probably tens of thousands. the loss and damage sandy left in its wake is immense. its affects still unfolding. tomorrow, secretary of homeland security janet napolitano is going to travel to nassau, suffolk county long island. they feel like they have not gotten the attention they need. in new jersey tomorrow, people will be allowed to vote by e-mail or fax. earlier today, the governor of new york,

despite the scramble to make it easier to vote, an obvious question that remains, in areas hardest hit, can voters focus on the election. the first election lawsuits have already been filed in ohio over how provisional ballots will be counted and in florida over the deadline for early voting. we all remember what happened in florida in 2000, the lawyers are certainly ready for a repeat, even if the rest of us are not. joining me is jeffrey toobin, cnn senior legal analyst, and anybody on the panel who wants to ask jeffrey a question can join in. it's not like the stakes could be much higher, and you're saying things are a lot more organized this year than they were back in 2000, in terms of lawyers? >> this is now a part of political campaigns just the way television advertising and field organization. a legal team is just as obligatory for campaigns, and they both have them in great numbers. >> and provisional ballots which ohio doesn't count until ten days after the election, explain

what role that could play. >> that's just such an amazing fact, frankly, i just became aware of it, as i've been studying up for election day. and it's really incredible when you think about it. provisional ballots are very common in ohio. whenever you go to a polling place, and there's any sort of problem, your registration appears off, you don't have the right i.d., they give you the provisional ballot. they put it in an envelope and put it aside. they put it aside for ten days. during those ten days you or your representatives or campaign can go to the board of elections and say, look, i am a legitimate voter, here's my i.d., here's my passport and if we have an election where those provisional ballots could spell the difference, you're going to have essentially 200,000 plus people with lawyers from the campaign saying, look, my voters are legitimate, and the election officials are going to have to

adjudicate each one of those. it's the nightmare and the length of the dispute could be endless. >> it could go on and on. we're going to check back with you a little later on. bruce springsteen is taking the stage at the event for president obama tonight. let's take a quick look. ♪ we learn more from three minute records than we ever learned in school ♪ ♪ tonight i hear the neighborhood drummer's sound i can feel my heart begin to pound ♪ ♪ you say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dream down ♪ ♪ well we made a promise swore we'd always remember no retreat ♪ ♪ no surrender ♪ like soldiers on a winter's night with a vow to defend

no retreat no surrender ♪ ♪ well now young faces grow sad and old hearts of fire they grow cold ♪ >> we'll continue to watch this event tonight in des moines, again, waiting to hear from president obama and michelle obama. also expected to take the stage. we're back with our panel. besides bruce springsteen, in terms of the -- we were talking about enthusiasm before. do you buy this argument that obviously the enthusiasm for president obama, you would agree paul is not the same as it was in 2008? >> absolutely not. >> it doesn't have to be. >> that's right. >> nothing will ever again get to that. that was a once in a million -- >> never say never. >> it was very hard. maybe if you run -- it would be tough for anybody to get there. things that have been reported on, the youth movement called youth mob and hoodie vote. young people are beginning to surge.

they haven't hit the polls yet. young people are not getting called on their cell phones the way they would have. i think there's that human factor, we just don't know yet. it's less than it was before, but i think it may be more than people think. >> are you expecting us to get a decision tomorrow night or are the things like provisional ballots in ohio, will this go on for days? >> i guess, but the data. i do believe in data. and i believe in magic and wearing gloves and all that garbage. the truth, this is still a day to do business. and the data suggests that it's highly likely president obama will win tomorrow. maybe his voters won't turn out. i'm especially worried about young people. it's not an even steven 50/50 deal. it's maybe a 53/47 deal. >> we have the electoral college given the states that are in play. the handful of states that are in play, that the path for the president is a lot easier to see, and a lot more likely than the path for mitt romney. it doesn't mean that mitt romney can't do it, it just means he has to run the table.

if he loses virginia, we see early on tomorrow night that mitt romney were to lose virginia, we would all be thinking -- >> i'd go home, right? >> john king, we don't need you anymore. okay, it's that much more difficult for -- >> when you look, how many states are this close, i think the likelihood -- 2000 we didn't know for 36 days. 2004 we didn't know until wednesday morning. 2008 was different. i don't think we're going to know before midnight tomorrow. in the 2000 race all eyes are on florida. wisconsin was 5,708 vote difference out of 2.5 million. iowa is a 4,000 vote difference. and new mexico was 366 votes separating bush and gore. out of 590,000. a lot of close states. and this one too. >> what i think is striking about this, anderson. this race has been all about jobs and the economy. and yet when we talk about the turnout, who's going to be there. it's not about jobs and the economy.

the latinos, it's about immigration and how they feel about that. with women it's about abortion and pay equity and other issues like that. with young people it's a series of other issues. it's striking. when you get down to the micro -- >> well, on the abortion -- there was a gallop poll saying it was the number one issue among women. a lot of republicans have pushed back saying it is the economy. >> the election is this close, you have the big theme, and then you niche mark it. if you live in washington, d.c., you're seeing a lot of choice, abortion ads, because romney started to move among suburban women, the obama campaign came after him. you'll see that. a smart campaign says, where is he coming up and how do we knock him down? >> someone somewhere right now in both campaigns is writing talking points on how they're going to try to say they have a mandate. >> can we stipulate up front there will be no mandate? whoever wins -- >> there will be no mandate. you and i were talking earlier,

this is about party power controlling washington. if barack obama gets re-elected, you're still going to have the republicans -- >> i would argue, whoever wins has to do something dramatic to make an overture to the other side if you're going to succeed, because there is no mandate. >> if most of the tossup states break the president's way, he can get to 300. i'm not saying that's likely, but if all of the tossup states are all but one or two break his way, he can get to 320 or so. i think if governor romney wins he's going to be in the 280 range, that's just win. that's hard to claim a mandate. >> up next john king will head back to the wall, mapping out the mad cap itineraries these two candidates have been on in the last few weeks. bruce springsteen on the stage now in des moines, iowa, president obama expected shortly. [ male announcer ] this is steve.

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president obama's wrapping up a nonstop day of campaigning in iowa. you see bruce springsteen talking there. he's ending the last political

campaign of his career where it all began. bruce springsteen has been campaigning with him all day. first lady michelle obama is also in des moines with them. the president is expected to speak any moment. he just arrived at the event. romney has a rally of his own tonight as well. we're going to bring you both as they happen. and michelle obama's comments. both candidates have been racking up frequent flyer miles. john king is going to break it down for us. >> they'd get more miles if the west coast were still in play in presidential politics. but it is now. let's look at where the presidential candidates are visiting. you see these disks, they're in certain places, nevada, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, ohio, in here, you can't see it. there's so many visits here. let me stretch it out and make it a little more easy to read. excuse me for turning my back. you see this is where all the candidates, they break them down by candidate. this is the state of ohio, the blue dot, he's been all around the state of ohio. what about governor romney? he too in the rural areas of ohio. also in the cities, but mostly

where the republican base vote is. joe biden, especially around the suburbs here. let's move the map a little bit, we'll come back out, come back in. where you see the springsteen rally tonight. this is paul ryan over here, eastern iowa. joe biden. governor romney, the president, if you put them all on, it starts to look like that, you come back out to the map. what you see here is, much of the country, if you live on the west coast, you live up here in the prairie, you live in texas or across the deep south, you're not getting a campaign. they're not coming to see your state unless they're trying to raise money. and that was mostly weeks and months ago. or unless you happen to be in a tv market that bumps into one of these other states. this is florida, you see a lot of visits here. you break it down by candidate, where is the president, this is the i-4 corridor. where most of the independents are. this is an area i know ari fleischer is interested in. the question is, the democrats

will win the southernmost counties. will the jewish vote be less? will the president get less because of the dustup with governor romney and israel in the campaign. you won't see the president out here. this is the most conservative republican part of the state. that's to turn up the republican base. you see them both competing here in the i-4 corridor, where you find independents. vice president and paul ryan, i'll pull out the map as we close the conversation. that's just paul ryan, that's just vice president biden, that's governor romney. and that's president obama. notice the pattern, in the last couple weeks, this is the last two weeks. the last two weeks of this campaign, about nine states have gotten the attention, the rest of you just get to watch. >> thanks very much. we're awaiting speeches as i said by president obama and romney. romney's wrapping up election eve at a rally in new hampshire. he'll be out campaigning tomorrow. jim acosta is there, he joins me now on the phone. what's the mood like within the romney camp tonight? >> i'm sorry i can't get in front of a camera right now. but i have to tell you,

the romney campaign has been running behind for a good part of the last six hours or so. mainly because mitt romney has been trying to shake every hand. talk to every overflow crowd. he's giving longer speeches than he normally gives. i have to say, anderson, the mood inside this campaign right now, is serious and determined, despite what the latest battleground polls show, with the president with a slight edge. i was talking to some senior romney advisers earlier today. they're convinced they're going to win a clear and decisive victory tomorrow night. just in case, they're trying to pull out all the stops, obviously, they're going to have their ground game in force across all the swing states in play right now. i talked to a republican source that is close to this campaign. they do concede at least this one republican source said, that ohio is close, and the words of this republican source, very close. and anderson, in the event that this becomes one of those tight

elections for provisional ballots, absentee ballots come into play, i have been told by a romney campaign, that legal teams will be in place, just in case, there are irregularities or needs that are involved with a close counting of the ballots. >> no doubt about that. tomorrow governor romney has a number of campaign events, which we just learned paul ryan has added more campaign events. while president obama will not be out campaigning tomorrow. >> that's right. this was a decision that was made and announced late this afternoon. mitt romney going to pennsylvania, which is a state that they are only starting to see in play in the very last stage of this campaign. they're also going to ohio. he's going to start the day outside of his home in massachusetts. he's going to vote with his wife, ann, and then head off to the two campaign stops in cleveland and pittsburgh. basically, the rationale here, they want to stay visible and keep the energy going all the way until election night. they also say, anderson, that this is going to be an

interesting press coverage situation. they're only allowing pool cameras, which is a small tight knit unit of reporters to observe mitt romney at various campaign events in these two stops. and essentially, they will not be open to the press. they will only be open to these small groups of pool cameras. this is essentially going to be a photo opportunity, a chance for mitt romney to be on a local newscast in these two states before the ballot counting begins. >> jim acosta on the trail. thanks very much. we're going to take another short break, when we come back, we should be hearing from the president and michelle boom at that campaign event. we'll be right back. when back pain slows you down,

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you're looking at live pictures from des moines, iowa. bruce springsteen warming up the crowd for president obama's last campaign of his political career. that's what most people think, until he gets into bill clinton's line of work. let's go back to our panel. we're watching this event. when michelle obama speaks and president obama speaks, we'll bring that to you live. does it make sense to you, though, i mean, we just heard that paul ryan has added campaign events tomorrow. as democrats over there, does it make you nervous that your candidate is not out on the

trail tomorrow? >> yes. >> absolutely. >> yeah, he's in illinois, you have iowa, wisconsin -- he's on air force one, he can play basketball on the plane. i mean, seriously, get him back out there. it's a big plane. >> we were on call with the campaign, with the obama campaign about that earlier today, the question was asked. one of their answers is, this is their plan, and they're concentrating on getting voters to the polls. the second thing is, you can't turn the secret service around that quickly. >> that's right. >> the president deserves a mulligan on this one. it's the last day -- >> well, you -- >> no, please go. >> ari fleischer is giving the democrats scheduling advice, that's not a good sign. >> the last day, what difference does it make? he wants to be down, let him be down. >> from the campaign today, you had a lot of people scratching their heads this morning, why are you in florida when everyone's thinking you're going

to win florida. now they're in virginia and ohio tomorrow. is it because the romney campaign thinks they're behind or because they're not taking anything for granted? the republicans say they're not taking anything for granted. at this point, i just don't believe either side. >> yeah, exactly. >> well, they're worried. >> both sides are worried. >> i'm not exactly sure. they said bill clinton in minnesota and pennsylvania, they're not exactly sure. >> is bill clinton going to be out campaigning tomorrow? >> if they ask him to, he'll go. >> he likes it so much, he could do it in december. >> you do not want to be -- if you are mitt romney and paul ryan, and these guys just spoke for the democrats, you don't want to wake up on wednesday morning and see you lost this election by one state, by 10,000 votes and say i was sitting at home watching television, instead ut out working. >> everybody knew what was going

to happen in 2008. in 2006, everybody knew. 2004 -- today you do not know. nobody knows. >> i think he should be out there. i would love to see him, see barack obama, see president obama, the last day, to see him out there. there will be people who would want to be able to shake his hand. i think it -- there's a danger that there's somebody out there that says, maybe he really doesn't want it. i wouldn't want to take that chance. >> he's not going to be invited to play basketball. >> when you put the president in somewhere, it takes a lot of time away from the campaign. and your time, i think is better spent getting your voters to the polls. >> tomorrow is the slowest day of the year. >> i understand. but people have to organize -- >> a campaign at this point, they can do both. >> they can crank the get out of vote. >> if president obama loses it's not because he didn't want it. >> yesterday he said he and david are just superfluous at this point.

>> watch him do satellite tv into targeted districts. which would not distract his get out the vote effort. watch him do radio. >> see, i think he will do that. >> if i worked for him, we would strap him to the chair at the least, if not the plane. >> the top staff may not be involved, there are boiler room operations looking at turnout saying, we got to get people there in realtime. this is how the campaigns are spending their time tomorrow, trying to get their voters to the polls. whether a candidate out there can help you or not remains to be seen. i remember when people were complaining that mitt romney wasn't campaigning enough. remember, he was doing one or two events a day over the summer. >> it's like disasters you've been to, anderson. you know if you bring the president in, it's a real diversion of resources, everybody gets excited. i think paul's got the right point, he could do some television, remote television. that's easy, it doesn't take anybody's time and effort. that would make sense. to me -- but to me, there's an error with romney going into this.

>> i think we haven't talked enough about colorado. >> one of the things about colorado, i think is interesting, you really have this tug of war. it's a true swing state. it's 50/50. you have kind of what i would say, you have this -- to me, colorado looks like the old coalition of the republicans, versus the new democratic coalition of the future. you have the younger folks, they're in a tug of war there. is that right? >> it's been argued just the opposite, that colorado represents a new coalition, what you're seeing in ohio and in places like wisconsin and michigan is the old fdr-type coalition, a lot of the working folks in that coalition. colorado is much more about the young. >> and colorado's very urban. >> colorado in 2004 was 8% hispanic, now it's 13% hispanic. that's one of the big changes. 18 to 29-year-olds were 15% in 2004. now they're down to 14%.

you have a nice sized senior citizen group there too. >> it's a genuine, bona fide battleground state. >> this is the future of america in some ways facing off there. i think what happens in colorado, it may not be as important for this election, it could determine it. it may not. i think it says something about politics going forward. it used to be a red state, it turned purple it's heading toward a blue state. >> this sun -- country is dynamic. >> the west would become the new base of the democratic party. >> i'm being told, president and mrs. obama taking the stage in des moines with a wash let's take a look. ♪ ♪

>> wow. oh, my goodness. oh, my goodness. >> we love michelle! we love michelle! >> thank you, guys, thank you so much. >> we love michelle! we love michelle! >> oh, my goodness. >> and i love you. i love you. i love you from the bottom of my heart. i am beyond thrilled to be here with all of you. but we have to give some love up for bruce springsteen. i mean, gosh. for months i have heard his songs played at our rallies. but i have to say, there's nothing like seeing the boss in person. nothing like it. he has just been tremendous. he and his family and his team, they've just been amazing.

so we want to thank bruce for everything he's done for us. and more than anything else, i want to thank you all for being here tonight. i mean, as you know, this is a pretty emotional time for us, because this is the final event of my husband's final campaign. so this is the last time that he and i will be on stage together at a campaign rally. and that's why we wanted to come here to iowa tonight. because truly this is where it all began, right here. and i have so many fond memories of this state. the house parties in sioux city

and cedar rapids, celebrating malia's birthday in pella. and seeing my husband's face carved in butter. believe me, we still talk about that at christmas. but i will never forget the kindness and warmth and love that you all showed me and my family, especially our girls. that is truly what made the difference back in those early days when i wasn't so sure about this whole process. back when i was still wondering what it would mean for our girls and our family, if barack got the chance to serve as president. but the truth is, while i had my worries and my fears, i also realized that this decision affected not only me as a wife and a mother, but as a voter. as an american. and i started envisioning the